By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Anglers on the central Oregon coast may be in for “good to very good” fishing Monday when coastal bays and streams open for salmon fishing.
While river systems on the north and south coasts undergo some closures or restrictions, the three streams that make up the bulk of salmon fishing in Lincoln County are expected to produce good catches of fall Chinook salmon.
Improved ocean conditions are also expected to even allow a very limited catch of wild coho salmon in four mid-coast streams for two- to four-week periods in September, October or November.
“We’re not quite sure what the reason is – either better ocean conditions or improved habitat or both,” Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife regional biologist John Spangler told YachatsNews. “These fish head to Alaska after leaving coastal streams and feed in northern British Columbia and southeast Alaska. It could be good ocean conditions for 2-4 years or good habitat.”
Fishermen sometimes link ocean fishing for Chinook with how runs will be in coastal streams. But the Chinook runs into coastal streams are different. Chinook being caught now in the ocean are headed north to the Columbia River or south to the Klamath and Sacramento rivers. Chinook headed up coastal rivers originate in water off Alaska and Canada.
ODFW biologists say a statewide drought in 2015 and 2021 and a warmer ocean from 2014-19 harmed salmon smolts leaving Oregon streams in the spring and hampered their survival when they reached the sea. Fall Chinook range in age from 3-6 years.
But ocean conditions improved last year, helping this year’s returns.
Except for the Salmon River near Lincoln City, all of the fall Chinook returning to mid-coast streams are wild fish. Because of an ODFW hatchery on the Salmon River, the mix of wild and hatchery returns there is roughly 50-50, Spangler said.
ODFW biologists are forecasting a return of 10,300 fall Chinook salmon to the Alsea River. “The forecast is good,” Spangler said.
The forecast for the Yaquina River is 6,600 Chinook, Spangler said, which should be enough to provide good fishing. The Siletz River forecast is lower – 5,700 fall Chinook, Spangler said, which is “not as high as we’re hoping for.”
For the second straight year all three rivers will have a daily bag limit of two fall Chinook and 20 for the season. Because of poor returns, catches were cut to one salmon a day and five for the season in 2019 and 2020.
The catch limits on the Yachats River is again one per day and five for the season.
Mid-coast streams may see some extra pressure from people who usually fish the Siuslaw River between Florence and Mapleton. The state has closed the Siuslaw system to all salmon fishing because the runs there have collapsed.
The Coquille River is also closed for fall Chinook fishing.
The ODFW has also stopped the retention of wild fall Chinook in Tillamook Bay and its streams, but will allow keeping of hatchery salmon, which comprise about 30 percent of returns.
Likely limited coho seasons
There is also a sliver of good news involving returns of mid-coast Oregon coho, which are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Fishing off the Oregon coast is currently very good for coho salmon, but most of those fish are headed to the mouth of the Columbia River. Except for a one-fish limit in the Siletz River last year, keeping of any mid-coast wild coho salmon has been prohibited.
Because of improved returns, on Friday the ODFW commission is expected to approve very limited two- to four-week coho seasons on the Alsea, Yaquina and Siletz rivers – and for the first time since 2015 – coho catches on Beaver Creek north of Seal Rock.
ODFW biologists are recommending that the Alsea River be opened for retention of wild coho from Sept. 15-30; and the Yaquina and Siletz rivers from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
Beaver Creek would be open from Nov. 1-15 from the pedestrian bridge at Ona Beach State Park upstream to its confluence with South Fork Beaver Creek. Spangler said that stream was last opened to coho fishing in 2014 and 2015.
“These are pretty small opportunities,” Spangler said of one-fish limits per person.
